Adam Jensen may yet scowl his way to the big screen.
CBS Films, the Los Angeles-based film studio responsible for movies including Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and The Woman in Black, has just acquired the rights to make a film based on Eidos Montreal’s well-received cyberpunk outing Deus Ex: Human Revolution. While we don’t yet know how closely this prospective movie will relate to the sorry tale of Adam “I Never Asked For This” Jensen, it looks likely that the film will touch on the themes of conspiracy and control we saw in the game.
Phil Rogers, president and CEO of Human Revolution publishers Square Enix Europe, said, “As the millions of fans who have played the Deus Ex games for more than a decade will tell you, these games catapult you into a universe that is stimulating, engaging and relevant.”
Happily, the team behind Human Revolution is set to take a very active role in crafting any film that comes of this deal. As has been noted frequently since the game’s release, one of the standout elements of Human Revolution (I mean, apart from the arm-swords) was its incredibly detailed and consistent cyberpunk-Renaissance aesthetic, grounded in the developers’ clever use of black, gold, light, and angles. With the team from Eidos Montreal on board, it might not be too much to hope that these kinds of flourishes make it to the big screen.
Terry Press, co-president of CBS Films, is clear on the importance of the developers to this project. “As is clear from the wild success of the game, Square Enix and Eidos Montreal know how to exceed their audience’s expectations by engineering incredible worlds,” said Press. “No one knows Human Revolution like the team that created it, and we look forward to working with them from day one to make a film adaptation worthy of the Deus Ex name,” he added.
That’s about all there is for now. The film already has several producers on board – one of whom is apparently also working on film adaptations of Just Cause and Kane and Lynch – though there remain a great many vacancies. There’s no telling whether or not this deal means that the Human Revolution movie will ever see the light of day; but if done well, it could really turn out to be something worthwhile. Or it could, y’know, be a disaster. Only time will tell.
Source: Variety
Published: Jul 10, 2012 05:28 pm